Exploring Successful

Actions for Inclusion in

Irish Education

• From the personal to the professional

• Dr. Carmel Mulcahy

• Dublin City University

• School of Education Studies

• Access to 2nd and 3rd level Education

• Legacy of Donagh O’Malley

• Free/grant aided 3rd Level

• Education as a Right

• Teaching Career

• 3rd level: DCU and non-traditional students

• Centre for Pluralism

• Educate Together

School of Education Studies, DCU

Includ-ED: Exploring successful actions for educational and social inclusion in Europe.

2006-2011

Research background

EU wide research conducted by 14 partner institutions

€3.5 million in funding from EU

Biggest single piece of educational research to be

conducted by 13 individual countries

The goal of INCLUD-ED is to allow the “ scientific

community” to dialogue with theory and practice in order

to influence EU policy

Research background

Can we achieve the Lisbon objective of

Europe becoming the most competitive and

dynamic knowledge-based society if we

continue to exclude, both socially and

educationally, many EU citizens and their

communities?

Can we identify successful actions that

contribute to school success and social

inclusion?

Focus of Research

• Identify successful actions that contribute

to school success and social inclusion at

the level of compulsory education. (6-16)

• Particular emphasis on 5 vulnerable

groups: women, youth, migrants, cultural

groups such as Roma and people with

disabilities

Further objectives

How school failure or success influences other areas of society

such as employment opportunities, access to housing and

health and participation in public spaces for members of the

vulnerable groups targeted and for all members of society in

general.

Benefits civic organisations, schools, governments and

policy makers by providing knowledge and recommendations to

identify those strategies that lead to social inclusion or social

exclusion from education.

Research Rationale

•The School is seen as a social entity acting as both a

reproductive agent and a transformative agent

•The research will build on good practices and

advocate innovative strategies in the area

Recording element and a practical element

•Findings as they happened fed directly into policy at

EU level

Methodology: Critical

Communicative Theory

Knowledge created through intersubjective dialogue

Researchers in a dialogue with social actors to reach consensus of meaning.

Inclusion of traditionally silenced voices

Active involvement of the people whose reality is studied throughout the entire research process.

Exclusionary and Transformative

Scientific analysis to identify strategies that lead to social inclusion (transformative) and exclusion (exclusionary).

Findings from initial stages

•

• Acquisition of “language of instruction”

• Diversity recognition

• Differentiation

• Family and Community

Language acquisition

The use of the native language as a vehicle in the school

encourages the learning of the instrumental material

Incorporation of the language and culture of minority pupils

contributes towards their cultures being valued and this

encourages the empowerment of the pupils

Multilingual approaches seen to be beneficial.

Language acquisition

Countries with relatively small performance differences between immigrant and native students tend to have well-established language support programmes (OECD, 2006c: 3)

One factor which increases the risk of failure at school for the immigrant population is the scarcity of support programmes for language learning

Diversity recognition

Participation of members of cultural minorities in the

classroom promotes their recognition and benefits all

pupils

Invisibility of cultural minorities in the curriculum does not

reflect current societal realities

OECD (2002-2005) reveals that countries which achieve

the best school results are those in which there is a

higher level of diversity

Diversity and the Curriculum

Educational centres should not identify themselves

with any specific religious tradition but should allow

diversity to exist amongst pupils

The secularisation of the space allows expression of

diverse religious traditions and identities to occur

Adverse consequences of an ethnocentric

perspective

Latest findings

The project has identified a number of practices

and strategies in European classrooms with

regard to grouping of students and parental

involvement

Mixture, Streaming and Inclusion

Family and community involvement

Mixture, Streaming and Inclusion

Mixture: educating students with different abilities together

(does not guarantee an efficient response to the diversity of

the students).

Streaming: extra resources (e.g. support teachers) to help

those students with more difficulties, but this accompanied by

ability grouping or by different placements or separation .

Inclusion: consists of using the same resources that are used

for segregated practices to educate all of the students

together.

Strategies to achieve this...

Types of inclusion identified throughout Europe:

Heterogeneous ability classrooms with reallocation of

human resources in the regular classroom and Extending

learning time through a longer school day, or a school year

or activities that promote family support and education in the

school or at home

When these actions are implemented in schools with

predominantly immigrant and minority student populations

located in disadvantaged areas, their educational results

improve.

Inclusion actions should be promoted, especially for students

from vulnerable groups in order to increase the school

achievement of all students and improve inter-group relations

in classrooms and schools.

Research indicates that separation into special

programmes and schools, of students from ethnic

minorities (e.g. Roma), second language learners

(e.g. immigrants) and students with disabilities,

increases dropout levels and racism.

Family and community involvement

The participation of families and community members

becomes a significant potential resource to enhance

educational and social inclusion.

5 types of participation were identified: informative,

consultative, evaluative, participation in decision making

and educative.

Informative participation

Parents are informed about the school activities,

school functioning, and the decisions which have

already been made.

Parents do not take part in those school decisions.

Parents’ meetings consist of informing families about

these decisions.

Consultative participation

Parents have a limited impact on decision making.

Participation is based on consultation with families.

They participate through the school’s statutory bodies.

Decisive participation

Community members participate in decision-making

processes by becoming representatives in decision

making bodies.

Family and community members monitor the school’s

accountability in relation to its educational results.

Evaluative participation

Family and community members participate in students’

learning processes through helping evaluate children’s

school progress.

Family and community members participate in the

overall school evaluation.

Educative participation

Family and community members participate in

students’ learning activities, both during regular

school hours and after school.

Family and community members participate in

educational programmes which respond to their

needs and help to create interactions that have

been shown to favour student’s success

Family

Among the five types of family and community

participation, research shows that Decisive,

Evaluative, and Educative are the ones which most

positively influence students success. In these

types of participation, families are involved in the

school at a higher degree and have a greater influence

on school decisions.

Community

Promoting cultural and educational interactions between

students and social agents, and more particularly with

family members, enhance students’ achievement.

Creating educational and cultural spaces where family

and community members can actively learn, reinforces

particular interactions that have been shown to favour

student’s success

Policies should be developed to create and/or increase the

participation of families and communities in learning activities

(with students or for themselves), curriculum development

and evaluation, and school decision making and the

research suggests that those types of participation have

greater influence in students’ learning than when they

just participate in festivals or are just informed.

Participation of families from vulnerable groups

(migrants, cultural minorities, students with disabilities)

should be particularly encouraged as it relates to their

children’s academic success.

Policies should be developed to promote family

education programmes in schools.

Greater academic success found where:

Increased family and community involvement in decision

making and classroom activities and promotion of role

models from the community

Higher degrees of interaction within classrooms

Higher recognition of diversity benefits entire community

and integration of strategies into the curriculum and within

classroom settings

Into the Future

• The Forum on Patronage

• Greater choice of schools

• Further research into why exclusion

exists at all levels of Irish Education

• Greater compliance with ECHR

• Develop the concept of EfS and comply

with the Earth Charter

5 Pillars of ESD

• Learning to Know

• Learning to Do

• Learning to live Together

• Learning to Be

• Learning to Live Sustainably

Let ours be a time remembered

For the awakening of a new reverence for life

The firm resolve to achieve sustainability

The quickening of the struggle for justice and peace,

and the joyful celebration of life”*

(*Closing lines of the Earth Charter)

T H E E A R T H C H A R T E R

I N I T I A T I V E